BOUNTIFUL — The BDAC’s Annual Statewide Competition exhibit, the first to open at the art center’s Farmington location, makes good use out of several exhibiting challenges inherent to the new space. The result is a show that encourages exploration, offering up new surprises around every corner.

The BDAC occupies the entire second floor of the old city and county building, located at 28 E. State Street in Farmington. There’s only one traditional gallery, located next to the front offices, and it’s smaller than any in the old Bountiful building.

To compensate, art center staff have transformed the hallways into an extended, serpentine gallery space.

The walls are painted a soft gold, giving the space a warm, inviting feel and bringing out the richness in the paintings.

The new arrangement gives the art center more ability to guide visitors through the art. For the statewide show, the initial hallway space is largely taken up by more traditional work. Finely rendered landscapes such as Karen Foster’s “Merced River, Yosemite” alternate with more lush works, such as Susan M. Jarvis’s still life “Pomegranate and Copper Urn.”

Bold pieces, such as Mark B. Goodson’s “Superman,” are placed at anchor points that lure the eye forward from a distance. Smaller, more unusual works are tucked around corners in little mini-exhibits that let the pieces play off one another. The playfulness of Vila Cochran’s “My First Sushi” is an excellent counterpoint to the more formal elegance of Paul Vincent Bernard’s “Rebuilding the New City.”

The new space deprives sculptures of their usual location at the center of a gallery. Though they can’t be displayed as dramatically, their increased proximity to the paintings allow visitors to draw more connections between them. At times, the new arrangement makes the sculpture seem like paintings that have broken the boundaries of their frames.